Patient Care Phase

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​​​​​​​​​In the 12-month patient care phase, students achieve specific competencies in six core clinical disciplines, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Surgery and will also have six weeks off or time to schedule a clinical elective. Students participate in these clinical experiences in a variety of locations, in both urban and rural settings throughout the WWAMI region.

Patient Care Phase Curriculum Resources

Clinical Rotation Programs

Medical students at the UW School of Medicine may choose from one of three alternative approaches to their third-year clinical rotations:

General Clinical Schedule: This is the mode in which approximately 75 percent of third-year medical students will register for their required third-year clerkships through a complex ranking process. This allows students the opportunity to schedule all of their required clerkships across the entire five-state WWAMI region. Students ranking their preferences in the general pool are expected to take at least three required rotations outside the Seattle area.

WWAMI Track Program – The WWAMI Track program allows accepted students to be scheduled for a designated amount of time in one specific state/region within WWAMI (minimum of 24 weeks for Patient Care Phase and a minimum of 12 weeks for Explore & Focus Phase). Medical students must participate in an application process for each phase separately, in which selected students are matched to Track sites. See site for additional details and Track site locations.

​WRITE– The WWAMI Rural Integrated Training Experience (WRITE) is an 18- to 22-week rural clinical medical training experience for a pre-selected group of third-year medical students. All WRITE sites offer three weeks of outpatient Pediatrics, three weeks of outpatient Psychiatry, six weeks of outpatient Internal Medicine, the entire six-week Family Medicine clerkship, and a required four-week elective at the end of WRITE. Some sites are approved for OB/Gyn, in which case, students will complete the OB/Gyn rotation while at WRITE.​​